Michigan State suffered a blow to their early-season preparations as sophomore shooting guard and reigning Big Ten freshman of the year Gary Harris sustained an ankle injury during a pickup game with teammates and is expected to miss four-to-eight weeks according to a report from Diamond Leung of MLive. The 6’4″ Harris averaged 12.9 points per game last season for the Spartans.

While the injury to Harris hurts Michigan State’s preparation for a title run early in the school year, if the injury is only four weeks he could be back before the official start of practice on September 27th. If the injury stretches out to the full eight weeks, Harris could be back by early November and might not even miss any regular season games. Michigan State opens the exhibition season on October 29th.

The ankle injury is mostly a concern if it becomes any kind of recurring issue as many basketball players can relate to ankle injuries sometimes being difficult to fully recover from. But with the aid of Michigan State’s training staff and an ankle brace, Harris should ideally fully recover by the start of the regular season and the Spartans can continue their quest for a Big Ten title and possibly even bigger things.